Controversial no-call looms large as Alabama comeback falls short in loss at Mizzou
Mizzou withstood a 23-6 second-half run by Alabama to come away with a 68-65 win, handing the Crimson Tide its first SEC loss of the season.
It was a 66-65 game with just seconds left when Herb Jones drove to the basket. Mitchell Smith came up with the game-saving play for Mizzou.
Mitchell Smith with the big time block to seal the W for @MizzouHoops 🐯 pic.twitter.com/uAX9tSirdn
— SEC Network (@SECNetwork) February 6, 2021
The lack of a foul call on the play angered UA fans and surprised others.
He’s moving forward in the air and the contact very clearly knocks Herb Jones off balance. This is a foul.
And if that amount of contact happens when Herb Jones is shooting a three, he gets the call every time. pic.twitter.com/yZQIdiMm3P
— Rob Dauster (@RobDauster) February 6, 2021
Sorry, that was DEFINITELY a foul and the refs missed it.
— Michael Casagrande (@ByCasagrande) February 6, 2021
Horrible no call
— Talkin' Tuscaloosa (@TalkinTusc) February 6, 2021
Yeah, sorry but Herb Jones got tagged in the body on that blocked shot.
— Joseph Goodman (@JoeGoodmanJr) February 6, 2021
How is this not a foul. Good lord. College officiating continues to be bad. pic.twitter.com/4qIVgF8Rvf
— SECSportstalk (@Sportstalk_SEC) February 6, 2021
What about the foul that happened??
— Jake McAfee (@Jakemcafee25) February 6, 2021
Publicizing a blatant foul by your conference’s officials… nice @SECOfficiating
— NWTide (@NWTide) February 6, 2021
Foul….
— Joshua Ashley (@jashley2727) February 6, 2021
Foul
— Edward Morris (@Road_ed) February 6, 2021
Foul before the block
— Tim Bean (@TimBean15) February 6, 2021
Foul on #12
— Ludo Bagman (@LudoBags) February 6, 2021
And for those saying "Herb Jones was fouled that was a terrible no call" – well, it was. Alabama also let Missouri shoot close to 70 percent in the first half and missed at least a dozen layups around the rim. Had *plenty* of chances before the final few plays of the game
— Aaron Torres (@Aaron_Torres) February 6, 2021
The Tigers led 62-42 at the 9:44 mark before Nate Oats’ squad started to rally. Mizzou went ice cold, going without a field goal for the final 6:13. The official team account summed up how the Tigers are feeling:
A WIN IS A WIN!
— Mizzou Hoops (@MizzouHoops) February 6, 2021
Correction: The article was updated to correctly identify Mitchell Smith.
How are people calling this a foul? Roll tears roll
Multiple things can be true. 1.) it was a pretty clear foul as #12 left his feet and landed on Herb’s back. 2.) Mizzou played a better game and got the deserved W.
Glad Bama fought back after an awful first 30 minutes. Should actually make the SEC regular season race more interesting down the stretch.
Herb was clearly fouled by #12 but a loss is a loss. He should have made the layup on the previous possession to take the lead. Not a great performance by the Tide but glad they showed heart and played their way back into the game.
I wouldn’t quite say clearly. But there could’ve been a call. It was more of a 50-50 call. Could’ve gone either way.
LOL
All I will say is that I believe in moral victories. What a comeback! Reminds me of the 2012 Texas A&M game in football where we had to fight back against Johnny Manziel, only to lose it in the closing seconds. Good teams battle back. We’ll still have a high seed in the NCAA tournament. What’s the real difference between a 1 seed and a 2 seed anyway?
How we perform in the NCAA tournament is all that really matters anyway, in my view. If we have a game like this, we’re in trouble. If we have a game like we’ve had earlier in the season, we’ll go far. These players don’t have much big game experience and it’s easy to let your press clippings go to your head.
All that matters now is March Madness. A regular season championship is nice, but Alabama football 2017 didn’t have one and still won the National Championship.
I didn’t see a foul.
That was an incredible run by Bama but it wasn’t enough.
As Saban has said in the past, if you are reliant upon officiating to win games you certainly are not playing to win.
When did he say that?
I believe whrn he was your HC at LSU. May have been M-State
Good grief….do Alabama fans think they are entitled? It was a very close game…Mizzou hung tight…Go Tigers!!!
Foul or not, if Mitchell Smith is going to ram the basketball down Herb Jones’ throat, he should at least have the common courtesy of providing Jones with a tooth pick so he can remove the leather from between his teeth.
Maybe we can get you a towel for the crying you’re doing. #playbetter.
Open your eyes and watch the replay. From the side angle you can see a huge space between the 1st Missouri player who jumps sideways and not toward the
Alabama player. His arms are straight up and the significance is that it makes the
Alabama shooter move so far inside and under the basket that he has no glass.
The second Missouri defender is also clearly not in contact with the Alabama player and that can be seen clearly by the camera shooting lengthwise down the court. Sure Alabama want to be bailed out by the ref here but the cameras clearly show the space between both defenders and the shooter.
Finally the ref crew is all there and in great position to see the shooter and the defenders, not one of them sees contact. Give it up wishful thinkers. There just wasn’t any foul there.
Don’t throw shade on a good Alabama basketball year by asking for charity on this great defensive play and teamwork by two Missouri defenders who just wanted it bad enough to make it happen. Basketball is not an easy sport to have a perfect
record in. Be proud of what your team is doing this year.
Could’ve been called. But it wasn’t obvious. Jones was actually leaning into the Missouri player as he shot the ball and even though the Missouri player left his feet, he was barely drifting toward Jones mid air. What made it look like a foul is when Jones jerked mid shot. But Missouri is a very good team. Could be worse.